The Golden Eaglets advanced to the final thanks to a 4-2 win over Mexico in the semi-final and an impressive 3-0 victory at the expense of Brazil in the quarter-final. Emmanuel Amuneke’s men reached the final for an astonishing 8th time in 11 attempts and will be eyeing a 5th title on

As Nigeria prepare to battle Mali in the 2015 Fifa U17 World Cup final in Chile, let's examine in numbers all the cadet World Cup finals the Golden Eaglets have featured in.

1-The number of times that a Nigerian has been sent off in the final of the competition. Unfortunately, it’s Tenworimi Duere who goes into the wrong history books. This was achieved at the 1985 final when he was given the marching orders against West Germany. Duere was first cautioned in the 36th minute before he received the second in the 60th minute and was showed the exit door by Australian referee Chris Bambridge.

2-Fatai Atere and Tenworimi Duere go into the history books as the Eaglets to have played in most Fifa U17 World Cup finals. They featured against West Germany and Soviet Union in the finals of the China 1985 and Canada 1987 editions.

2- This number is significant because it reveals the number of times a final match involving the Golden Eaglets was decided via penalty shoot-outs. First it was in Canada 87 when Soviet Union beat Nigeria 4-2 on penalties to emerge as champions after scores stood at 1-1 after regulation time. The second time this happened was at South Korea 2007 as Yemi Tella’s side were crowned world champions after a 3-0 win via penalties against Spain with scores at 0-0.

-Jonathan Akpoborie is the first player to score in the final of the Fifa U17 World Cup.
- Wilson Oruma's third minute strike against Ghana is the fastest ever goal in a final match

3-Most number of goals conceded in a final match was by the Golden Eaglets. This was achieved at the 2001 edition staged in Trindad and Tobago. Goals from Florent Sinama Pongolle, Antony Le Tallec and Samuel Pietre silenced Musa Abdulahi’s team at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.

3-This is also the most number of goals the Eaglets have scored in a single final. It was achieved at U.A.E 2013 when goals from Erick Aguirre's own goal, Kelechi Iheanacho and Musa Muhammed powered Manu Garba’s boys past Mexico in Abu Dhabi.

4-The number of titles won by Nigeria at this championship - 1985, 1993, 2007 and 2013.

7-The total number of goals Nigeria have scored in all Fifa World U17 championships final they have played in. Little wonder they are the highest scoring side in the final of the competition. Also, they have conceded 6 goals in the same outings.

8 -The number of times the Golden Eaglets have reached the final of the Fifa U17 World Cups, making them the team with the record number of appearances in the final of the competition. (China 1985, Canada 1987, Japan 1993, Trinidad and Tobago 2001, South Korea 2007, Nigeria 2009, United Arab Emirates 2011 & Chile 2015).

11-On the 11th of August 1985, Nigeria won the inaugural edition of the championship hosted by China after defeating Germany in the final played in Beijing.

13 -Nigeria have bagged these number of yellow cards in their history of participating at the Fifa U17 World Cup final.

80000 –The highest number of spectators to have watched a Fifa U17 World Cup match involving Nigeria. This record was set at China '85 at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. The Golden Eaglets conquered the world in the inaugural edition of the U17 World Cup staged in China. Nigeria sent shivers down the spines of opposing teams as they dominated every departments of the game. After brushing aside the likes of Italy, Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia in the first round, Hungary was next to face the fury of the Nduka Ugbade-captained team as they were trounced 3-1 in Shanghai. However, the Eaglets faced their toughest test of the championship when they faced West African foes, Guinea in the semi finals which they scraped through 4-2 on penalties.
In the final match, the Germans had no hiding place as they bowed to a well organised Nigeria side that had Lucky Agbonsevafe who looked majestic in goal, Sani Adamu dictating the pace in the midfield and Joseph Babatunde wreaking havoc in the opponents’ defence.
Source: http://m.goal.com/x/en-ng/news/14952/fifa-u17-world-cup/2015/11/08/17105042/nigeria-and-the-fifa-u17-world-cup-final-in-numbers

With all this records, Nigeria should have been the world power in football. We should have won the world cup by now.

Long live the Golden Eaglets of Naiija! Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria!